Mustangs Fall to Gauchos

The Mustangs and Gauchos swam against each other for the second time this season.

In the final regular season meet of the 2011-2012 season, the Cal Poly Mustangs swimming and diving teams came up short against the rival UC Santa Barbara Gauchos.

The men lost by a score of 163-124, while the women fell 169-129 in a meet that was held in Santa Barbara on Saturday.

Senior Lacey Buck won both the 1000 and 500-yard freestyle events. She swam the 1000 in 10 minutes, 22.84 seconds, and won the event by more than five seconds. She later won the 500 with a 5:02.74.

Sophomore diver Sami McIntyre won the 1-meter diving event with 262.50 points. She was followed closely by sophomore teammate Meaghan O’Meara, who tallied 237.08 points. McIntyre went on to also win the 3-meter diving event with 239.48 points.

Although they lost the first relay (200 medley), the Cal Poly women finished the day by getting first and second in the 400 freestyle relay. Andrea Voigt, Jill Jones, Amy Morales, and Rachel Cleak teamed to swim a 3:31.79. Teammates Kelsey Engel, Danielle Wong, Vanessa Pollitt, and Padon Sivesind finished second with a 3:39.95.

The 400 freestyle relay was also a strong event for the Mustang men, as they also went 1-2. The “A” team of Omar Dwidar, Mackey Hopen, Matt Jude, and Christian Renfro won with a 3:05.05. Eddie Huang, Drew Casier, Adrian Brynnel, and Jimmy Deiparine comprised the “B” team, which got second with a 3:17.64.

Brynnel, a sophomore, also won the 500 freestyle with a 4:34.89. Fellow distance swimmer and sophomore Konrad Antoniuk won the 1650 freestyle by posting a 15:59.84.

Renfro won the 100 freestyle with a 47.62, which barely beat out the closest Gaucho by about two tenths of a second.

Freshman diver Elliot Adams won the 1-meter event with 257.85 points. He later won the 3-meter event by tallying 273.08 points.

For the men, it was the second loss of the season to the Gauchos. The two teams competed against each other at the Anderson Aquatic Center in early November, and the men lost 167-121.

The women beat UCSB in the first meet, 177.5-117.5, so Saturday marked the their first loss to the Gauchos since early last season.

For complete results of this past Saturday’s Cal Poly vs. UCSB dual meet, click here.

For both the men and women’s squads, dual meet against UCSB was the last competition before their respective conference championships. The women will compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship from February 15-18. The swimmers will be in Los Angeles, while the Divers will travel to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The men will swim in the Pac-12 Championship. The diving competition is slated to be held in Federal Way, Washington from February 22-25. The swimmers will go to Los Angeles. The swimming portion begins February 29 and concludes on March 3.

Around the Pac-12

Three Pac-12 aquatic juggernauts competed at the McDonald’s Swim Stadium in USC this past weekend. The Trojans hosted the California Golden Bears and Stanford Cardinal.

On Friday, USC swam against the defending national champion Golden Bears while Stanford swam exhibition. USC fell to Cal 165-125.

On Saturday, the Trojans and Cardinal squared off officially, while Cal swam exhibition. The reigning Pac-12 champion Cardinal came out on top by a score of 175-118.

Stanford and Cal will go head-to-head on February 18 in Palo Alto.